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Both singled out by Senate candidates, two veterans discuss the Second Amendment

Trish Choate, For the Times Record News
Published 6:20 p.m. CT Oct. 20, 2018

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Jim Cunningham, right, found himself part of a Rep. Beto O'Rourke speech recently in Wichita Falls. O’Rourke mentioned Cunningham while trying to prove a point that AR-15 style weapons kill rapidly and “belong on the battlefield.”(Photo: Contributed to the Times Record News)Buy Photo

Nearly 50 years later, Wichitan Jim Cunningham still recalls a gnawing concern while protecting a U.S. Army compound in Vietnam. He had fewer than 140 rounds for his M16 Assault Rifle.

Cunningham sees today’s shootings in the U.S. through the lens of his Vietnam war experiences.

He chatted about that earlier this year with U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, and their conversation led to what he called his “six seconds of fame” in the first Senate debate.

“I mentioned to him -- this was in the wake of Parkland -- that the Parkland shooter or most of the shooters in the schools are better armed than I was on a rapid reaction force in Vietnam,” Cunningham said.

Another Wichita Falls veteran, retired Air Force Col. Rita Vokes, garnered public recognition from U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz during a campaign stop earlier this year in Wichita Falls. Both Vokes and Cunningham had something to say about the Second Amendment although neither sought the spotlight on the issue.

The Second Amendment and gun control have been a point of contention as O’Rourke seeks to topple the Republican senator.

“Guns. I’m for them. He’s against them,” Cruz said at an Oct. 3 rally in Wichita Falls.

Cruz argued against gun control and called for more armed police officers in schools during the Sept. 21 debate in Dallas.

O’Rourke said he supports the Second Amendment, but he wants universal background checks and assault weapons off the market for civilians.

O’Rourke mentioned Cunningham while trying to prove a point that AR-15 style weapons kill rapidly and “belong on the battlefield.”

Here’s what he said about the Wichitan: "And listening to those who serve this country put their life on the line like the Vietnam veteran that I met in Wichita Falls, who said shortly after the Parkland shooting massacre there in that school, that that young man was better armed in that school against defenseless children than he was in the jungles of Vietnam."

Cunningham said he waited for everyone to get a photo with O’Rourke at the congressman’s Feb. 16 townhall at Midwestern State University because he wanted to thank him for what he was doing for Vietnam veterans.

Cunningham volunteered for the Army from 1970 to 1973, he said. A specialist four when he left, he spent 11 months in Vietnam altogether.

Rita Vokes calls friends to encourage them to shop the Faith Fashion Boutique sale, which benefited Faith Refuge. Vokes, a retired Air Force colonel, garnered public recognition from U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz during a campaign stop earlier this year in Wichita Falls.(Photo: Contributed)

He served a four-month stint at the U.S. Army Drug Treatment Center on Cam Ranh Bay, known for most of the war as the 6th Convalescent Center for injured soldiers, said Cunningham, an MSU graduate.

At the compound, his squad of about 12 soldiers had an M60 machine gun and seven magazines each for their fully automatic M16s, he said.

Standard issue, the relatively lightweight M16 is designed to fire small, high-velocity rounds, according to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

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United States Senator, Ted Cruz, met with members of the Disabled American Veterans before speaking to a crowd of veterans Thursday afternoon in Wichita Falls.(Photo: CHRISTOPHER WALKER/TIMES RECORD NEWS)

Rapid reaction force members were to respond to raids that guards at the perimeter couldn’t handle, Cunningham said.

If the Viet Cong broke through, he knew he would have less than 140 rounds to repel potentially a dozen enemy soldiers armed with automatic weapons, Cunningham said.

Cunningham said he was trained as a medic.

“Most medics don’t carry weapons,” he said.

Vietnam was top of mind when Cunningham met O’Rourke two days after the Feb. 14 school shooting in Parkland, Florida.

Nikolas Cruz is accused of killing 17 people in a matter of minutes with an AR-15 style rifle at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, according to media reports.

The gunman fired about 150 rounds but still had 150 to 180 more in his possession when the semiautomatic gun possibly jammed, according to media reports.

Cunningham said he and O’Rourke didn’t discuss what either thought should be done about gun control.

“The one thing that I know is that for many people in this country, the Second Amendment is sacrosanct,” he said.

It’s not going away, Cunningham said.

“The question is what can be done to keep guns out of the hands of people who have either serious mental illness or have ill will towards their fellow man and choose to slaughter people,” he said.

“And I don’t think there’s an easy answer to that,” Cunningham added.

On April 4 when Sen. Cruz visited Wichita Falls on his “Tough as Texas” campaign tour, he highlighted Vokes as a tough Texan and hero. He singled out the registered nurse in his speech and posted her bio on his campaign website.

Vokes joined the Air Force in 1968, inspired by her father’s World War II service in the Army, according to the bio. He encouraged her to become a nurse because of his memories of Army nurses helping the wounded.